Turkey to restart efforts to acquire Eurosam air defense systems

Turkey will restart its efforts to acquire Eurosam defense systems, according to ahvalnews.com.

Statements by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi last week suggest a possible resurgence of Turkey’s previously frozen efforts to buy SAMP / T defense systems, Defense News reported on Friday.

According to the leaders, the triple co-operation group between Turkey, Italy and France will be revived soon.

“We discussed the matter with Draghi, just as we discussed it with him [Γάλλο πρόεδρο Εμανουέλ Μακρόν]”Erdogan told reporters returning from a NATO summit in Brussels last week.

“We have decided to reactivate the team between Turkey, France and Italy, one of the cooperation platforms that were created all these years and then stopped. Soon, the three countries will have a meeting,” Draghi said in Italian. media immediately after.

Turkey hopes to revive efforts after the French presidential election in April and complete efforts to purchase new F-16s and modernization packages from the United States.

The Surface to Air Missile Platform / Terrain (SAMP / T) is manufactured by Eurosam, the Franco-Italian Partnership focusing on anti-aircraft missile systems.

The three countries signed a statement of intent for the joint production of Eurosam systems in 2017, while in 2018 a contract was signed. In January 2020, France froze the deal due to Turkey’s actions in northern Syria.

Turkey has faced an embargo over its occupation of several cities in Syria, while the purchase of Russian-made S-400 air defense systems has led to US sanctions and the country’s removal from the F-35 stealth fighter development program.

As Ankara seeks to resolve the S-400 crisis, it is unwilling to abandon missile systems that Washington sees as a threat to NATO infrastructure. Defense Industry President Demsmail Demir refuted a statement from Washington last week that Turkey was discussing whether to send S-400s to Ukraine to be used against the Russian attack.

Source: Capital

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